Kalashtar

The kalashtar are a compound race created from the union of humanity and wandering astral aberrations from the Astral plane– horrors and aberrations alike, they're called the quori. Kalashtar trained in their own culture and lore are often seen as wise, spiritual people with great compassion for others due to their expanded scope on reality. However, the kalashtar may inhabit any realm with connection to the Astral plane, many of which know not of their ancestral connections, the astral conflicts and interests, or the creeping presence of the Dreaming Dark.  

Bound through an Astral Connection

The defining factor of a kalashtar comes in their connection to the quori, eldritch aberrations with unknowable agendas, thoughts and urges, a connection derived from their bloodline. Typically appearing closest to humans, there are an endless level of small cosmetic variations that appear both at birth and throughout their lifespan, due to their true origin as a vessel for the quori however, any race may become a kalashtar at birth, mutating their biological abilities but maintaining the look of their parent race. A physical trait that however transcends their biological birth is the nature of their eyes. Since the bodies of kalashtar carry a connection akin to two souls within their bodies, their eyes reflect that nature, often glowing when strong emotions are expressed or carrying an unusually shaped pupil, resembling the quori that's bound to them.   Kalashtar can't directly communicate with their quori pair. Rather, they might experience this relationship as a sense off instinct and inspiration, drawing on the memories of the quori when they dream. It is this connection, formed at birth that grants kalashtar minor psionic abilities, as well as protection from psychic attacks. All of the quori are highly virtuous, but virtues are subjective, much like their true goals and intentions. The quori are an alien species, with minds that operate entirely differently to the humanoid races of Aio, evil and good mean nothing to them, and the affairs of the creatures that live in the multiverse is often of little consequence to them. Work together with your DM to develop the nature of their linked quori, what virtues lay at the core of their eldritch minds. What peeks their interest? And what disgusts them about the greater comic world that would push the kalashtar to act against or beside their pair? Typically, a kalashtar knows the name of their quori pair, but by no means is it an obligation for them to truly understand each other's true natures. Kalashtar societies do exist though, those who originate from them have a greater chance of understanding the true nature of their quori pair, as many kalashtar societies and brotherhoods spend all their efforts learning about the quori, self-reflecting to ascertain the true cosmic nature of their pair. In the end, some act as comic warlords and others as contemplative philosophers, the quori are as vast as the many peoples that roam Aio, though they always carry an alien purpose accomplished through their kalashtar partner.   The bond to the quori can cause some kalashtar to display unusal quirks. Consider rolling or selecting a trait from the Kalashtar Quirks table.  

Kalashtar Quirks

d10	Quirk
1	Relationships are a concept untapped and unexplored for you, you seek to understand the language of love, trust and social interaction.
2	Speech feels strange and unnatural to you, preferring to communicate with telepathy instead.
3	The concept of morality is fascinating within you, pushing you to want to protect the innocent and understand the guilty.
4	Your sense of reality is skewed, you often mistake dreams for reality.
5	You discuss to your quori pair out loud when rationalizing or seeking answers.
6	The concept of creativity is largely foreign to you, facts, logic and evidence dictate possibility and plausibility for you.
7	Your psionic nature makes you hyper-sensible to emotions around you.
8	The innerworkings of the mind fascinates you, you poke and prod at creature's emotions or test their capabilities obsessively.
9	You are driven by a sense of conquest, willing to bring creatures to their knees in combat in order to test the world's peoples at the behest of your quori pair.
10	You are obsessed with Dreaming Dark conspiracies.

The Nightmarish Truth

The quori, ethereal aberrations that wander the Astral plane originated from a greater known as Dal Quor. Some birthed with a purpose to serve their enigmatic patron, while others fled from the gargantuan mass. The rebel quori are creatures that fundamentally oppose their creator's ideals, seeking to change the nature of the larger world at its core with the end goal of becoming another roaming ethereal aberration of the Astral plane like Dal Quor. The purpose of these creatures akin to Dal Quor is provide dreams to Aio, strange visions that grant sight beyond into the greater world through a subconscious presence. Though the concept of achieving form akin to their creator Dal Quor is practically unachievabale. It is the great dream of the rebel quori, the greatest work of sorts, to overthrow their creator and usher a new era from the Astral realm. Yet there is a prophetic fate for the quori, a fate known as the Dreaming Dark. When a rebel quori's kalashtar pairing dies, they become a hungering ghost of themselves, their consciousness forever present, but a body entirely subservient to the malevolence of nightmares. These become twisted perversions of their true form, become devouerers an manipulators of dreams. It is the greatest mystery for the rebel quori, and must be overcome for the first hurdle toward the great work to be leapt. Even then, the quori who served Dal Quor throughout their existence suffer from the Dreaming Dark, Dal Quor however consumes his servants upon death, cleansing them and sending them out to serve him once more. The true goal Dal Quor carries is cosmically unknown, yet the quori seem to carry a subconscious understanding of their creator's will which leads to philosophical disagreements which are birthed in those that rebel.   Many kalashtar live their lives in complete ignorance of Dal Quor and the Dreaming Dark, yet due to the nature of the Dreaming Dark, it's corrupted servants seek out kalashtar and weak minded creatures to inhabit, causing mayhem and terror whenever they can. Kalashtar can defend themselves by shielding their minds through meditation and self reflections, as anxieties and addled thoughts help draw in the Dreaming Dark to kalashtar and creatures of similar psionic connections. It is to ward off the servants of the Dreaming Dark that is at the core of most kalashtar civilizations, brootherhoods or organizations.